The Queen from the North
by almostNEET
Summary: Thankfully the cold's never bothered her anyway.
1. Prologue

"RUN!" Tormund Giantsbane shouted as he put his own words into action, sprinting across and down the Wall. All around him screams of terror rang out all over the Wall, contrasting the silence that had pervaded it just moments earlier.

The reason for his and the unlucky whoresons who were currently present at Eastwatch, panic was the undead monstrosity that had come flying from in between the clouds of snow and mist that had covered the skies for the last few days. And with it the fact that the Wall was no longer enough to keep the White Walkers away.

He ran, Dondarrion beside him with the rest following close on their heels as the Wall shook with tremors beneath him. He paid it no heed, or at least he tried to. That became rather impossible, however, when he heard the cacophonous sound of shattering ice.

He was familiar with it; you didn't live in the far north without such noises becoming a fixture in your daily life. But this, it was _loud_, louder than he had ever heard before, drowning as it did the screams of hundreds of men. He shared a look with his companion, both coming to a realization that was horrifying by its very nature.

The Wall was falling.

That single thought sent his mind reeling as if he had been struck by a giant on his head, leaving his thoughts in a jumble. It was inconceivable. The Wall had stood for over a thousand years, allowing the Crows to keep the Freefolk apart from the rest of the Westeros. He had crossed it before of course, as had quite a few of his people, but it had still nonetheless loomed in their minds as a thing out of legends.

But then again he was living in an age of legend wasn't he? The dead come back to life, lizards flying across the sky - what was one more impossibility in the face of that?

He had no more time to think on it though as that thunderous sound grew closer.

"Move your legs, you bastards!" Tormund screamed at the ones behind him, glancing back as he did so. A moment later he wished he hadn't.

Despite the heavy snow that had started falling with the appearance of the White Walkers making it hard to see at distances that he would have had otherwise no trouble seeing in ordinary weather, he could still see silhouettes of the other men behind his group. And how they disappeared one by one, seemingly swallowed by the ground.

He didn't falter at that. Instead screaming his defiance at the face of encroaching death he ran harder, his feet falling faster and faster as he tried to outrun the advancing disaster behind him. He was _not_ going to die here, just another casualty at the fall of the Wall. He was Tormund Giantsbane - when he died it would be in battle with a sword in his hand, facing and felling scores of the dead. _That_ would be a fitting end for him.

And then the ground gave away beneath him, the Wall falling apart and taking him and his group down with it. Tormund only had a moment to feel terror at the sensation of weightlessness that assaulted him, as his feet lost purchase, before a piece of debris struck him unconscious mid way through his fall.

And Tormund Giantsbane knew no more.


	2. The First

The First gazed down at the destruction it had wrought upon the magical construction, dispassionately.

There was nothing behind its eyes, no joy or pleasure, as they took in the collapsed structure that had for over eight thousand cycles kept it at bay. But of course there wasn't, since despite the numerous appellations it had been given by the many indigenous species of the continent over its long existence - that likened it to a creature of malice and hate; it was more akin to a natural calamity than anything else.

And just as a calamity felt no emotion for the destruction it wreaked in its path, so too did The First not care about however many obstacles it needed to overcome until it reached its objective. The only objective it had had since its conception.

It had been created to destroy. To subsume everything it came upon and use them as fuel to subsume even more, and so on and on, until nothing remained but a wasteland devoid of all life.

The perfect creation of destruction.

The Children of the Forest had designed it based on their enemies - the hateful bipeds who had invaded their lands, deceived them and driven them out. They had taken the worst of their qualities and in a mockery of giving life, had created the ceaseless engine of destruction out of one of those very bipeds.

But in their hubris and wrath, they had not realized what it would mean for the world to suffer an existence that had only a single goal - to bring all life in it to an end. When they had finally realized the depth of their folly, they had joined their hated enemies in a struggle for life itself and finally at great cost had succeeded. Separating the First and its units from the rest of civilization and putting them in a state of hibernation with another creation of theirs which came to be known as the Wall to later generations.

And now that it had fallen, The First was that much closer to reaching its goal. It was the same reason why it had made sure to eliminate the last of the children before proceeding forward this time. While time mattered not to its existence, it was still an entity which sought to reach its objective the fastest way possible and eradicating its creator species had been part of ensuring that.

It gave one last searching look at the gigantic structure - making sure that all traces of the magic that the structure had been infused with had vanished. Still it sent one of its primary units forward first to ensure it, taking no chances and only when the unit did not break down did it push its mount forward.

The magic that had permeated the former barrier had been another creation of its creators, capable of completely bringing all of its functions to a stop. One of the only two things in existence capable of that, the other being the substance known as obsidian, due to its use as the primary component in its creation.

While The First had believed that had been the only time that magic had been used in the history of this world, a recent skirmish which had destroyed one of its primary units had made it reconsider that fact in light of a new discovery. It seemed the Children of Forest had embedded that specific magic to some other objects too. Though none of them appeared to be on the scale of the now-defunct structure below, instead mainly limited to being hand held weapons for the dominant species of the land.

It was in the process of sending one of its primary units to scout forward when a signal from another one of its primary units caught its attention. There was a disturbance at the bottom of the structure. It sent a reply in the negative, aware that the place was currently overflowing with hundreds of both active and dormant secondary units. No matter the opposition, they wouldn't last long in front of such overwhelming numbers.

The signal returned, more insistent this time. The First saw to its orders before flying down to that unit., reasoning it wouldn't hurt to be cautious here. As it got closer to the ground, it finally saw what was causing the commotion as well as the reason for the primary's insistence.

A female was harassing the primary and secondary units near one of the edges of the gigantic hole it had created. A _magic_ user, with a focus on ice magic, if how most of the secondary units present had been encased in solid ice were any indication.

For the second time since waking up from its forced sleep, The First was forced to reconsider its knowledge repositories. None of the female's species was supposed to have the potential for ice magic.

The discrepancy in its records and what it was seeing was enough to halt it in mid-air and so The First was a perfect witness to what transpired next. The female mage created an icy blast in front of her that threw the secondary units to their backs, before unleashing a torrent of magic at the primary which within moments entombed it in thick ice.

The First only needed a moment of consider the ramifications of the anomaly in front of it before it sent a silent order to its mount. The beast flew forward as it opened its maw, breathing its flames towards the mage even as the anomaly turned towards it. The dozens of the secondary units near her caught fire instantly, while the anomaly was cut off from its sight, engulfed by the flames.

It didn't let up, keeping the flames concentrated towards the anomaly's location. The frozen primary unit was within range of the flames and as a result it could feel it was breaking down, but considering the ability and power the anomaly had already displayed The First considered one of its primary as an acceptable sacrifice in ensuring the anomaly's demise.

Its mono focus towards the action, however, came at a detriment as the ice golem that broke out of the ground just beneath the mount, took it completely unaware until it was lunging at the flying creature with its wide arms.

The First tried to swerve the beast away from its reach, cutting of the flames as it did so, but the golem had the advantage of surprise despite the former's greater dexterity and one its wide arms clipped the creature in its wings sending it stumbling down to the ground.

The First jumped clear off the beast as it fell, unwilling to risk getting trapped underneath it. Almost immediately the golem changed its target, charging towards it as the ground thundered beneath its feet. In response it threw a spear towards its centre mass after taking a moment to create one.

The weapon pierced through the figure's mid section, earning a loud roar from the golem but was not enough to stop its charge. So before it had taken another step, The First threw two more such spears, this time aiming a little higher - at its head. It protected its head with its arms, deflecting one while stopping the other.

But that was enough; in the time it took the golem to shield its head from the spears, The First closed the distance between them, two blades of ice materializing in its hands. By the time the figure's eyes were back on his target, it was already near its legs. It evaded its clumsy attempts at attack, while moving between its legs with its twin blades flashing out and carving away at the golem's legs.

The figure of snow groaned in what appeared to be agony as The First kept close to its body, slashing at its legs with the blades until one last strike damaged its left leg enough that it could no longer support its upper body. The golem stumbled before falling in a manner befitting its giant size.

The First moved out of its reach as the figure fell to its knees. It waited a few moments to be certain that the golem was not just pretending, before it called to the beast lying in wait some distance away. While the beast had lost its ability to take flight for the moment, with the golem now having lost use of its left leg the former again had the advantage in dexterity over the latter.

With the outcome of the battle was all but certain, The First turned to search for the anomaly, only to find no trace of her in the surroundings. As the battle between the two creations raged on, it walked to the primary unit near the last location of the anomaly and inspected it. The damage it had taken from the flames and the accompanying heat had been catastrophic and as a consequence the unit was no longer salvageable.

The First cut off the connection between them that had been still empowering the unit and its body fell apart within moments while a rush of information was added to its own records. It appeared despite the many threat the anomaly posed to its objective, she still had been unable to affect the unit's primary memory records.

The First looked through the new addition in its records, searching the unit's memories from its last moments. It didn't take for it to find answers.

Apparently, the anomaly had survived the flames by creating a curved wall of ice in front of her and then had kept reinforcing it up until it had been forced to stop the flames. Afterwards she had created an approximation of the beast that most of her species used for travelling and then fled. And judging from how her hands had been occupied in keeping up the wall, she didn't them for creating her puppets.

The First glanced at the way she had fled, before looking back at its own mount which had finally destroyed the golem and finally glancing at the gigantic hole in the structure behind it. At least it had already sent a scouting party forward so there was a slim possibility of them intercepting her and ending her life.

After taking a moment to consider its available options, The First decided to wait however long it would be for the beast to regain the flames it had used to break down the barrier. So that the next time they came upon each other, it would hold an insurmountable advantage over the anomaly.

There was no need to hurry.


	3. The Last Commander

"Gods, we're fucked." Edd muttered beneath his breath, the walls of Last Hearth looming ahead of their small group as they rode their horses up the snowy trail towards the castle. There were ten of them, besides him, who had chosen to ride with him to Last Hearth, the rest having set off for Winterfell.

When the ravens had come carrying letters that told Eastwatch had fallen and that the Night King was no longer bound by the Wall, his first reaction had been stunned disbelief. Not at the fact that the Wall had been breached - Edd had known it was only a matter of time before the dead walked on the lands of Westeros. No, instead it had been due to the specific circumstances which had led to it.

Jon had sent him a long letter explaining the details - which the more Edd had heard about, the longer his disbelief had grown. Not for the first time Edd had wondered that when the red priestess had been bringing his friend back to life whether she might have missed some parts. Because if somehow the Night King and his army of the dead weren't frightening enough before, now they also had a dragon.

A _motherfucking_ dragon!

Besides the overly long explanation, which Edd assumed Jon had included as an apology and warning, the letter had told him in no uncertain terms to abandon the now useless Wall while also sending a few people towards Last Hearth, in order to secure any stragglers still near the castle and get them all to Winterfell as swiftly as possible. The plan, if one could call it that, was to combine all of the men and women into a single army and try put an end to the Night King, and with him the Long Night, once and for all.

_Fat chance of that happening._

If the Night King could be dealt with so simply, then he should have died thousands of years ago. The First Men and the Children of Forest would have finished him off, instead of merely building a gigantic wall that stretched unbroken for over hundreds of miles, just to keep him and his army out.

"What was that Lord Commander?" asked Kissarse from where he rode behind Edd, interrupting his thoughts. Well, that wasn't really his name, but considering how much the man liked to kiss his and everyone's arse, Edd considered his nickname for him a proper alternative.

Edd opened his mouth to retort to Kissarse that he was only _acting_ Lord Commander before he reconsidered wasting his breath on words the men would no doubt forget soon enough, if the past dozens of times were any indication. So instead, after a moment of silence he merely shook his head. "Just thinking out loud."

His eyes took in the castle in front of them once more which was much closer now, their horses having covered the distance during his thoughts. Edd sighed, he still didn't know just what had driven him to lead the ranging towards the castle instead of guiding the rest of his men towards Winterfell.

Edd didn't consider himself a very pessimistic man, but you'd have to be blind, deaf _and_ daft to believe the castle was going to be anything but empty by the time they reached it, and that only _if_ they were lucky. Because even if the ravens had flown the moment the Wall fell, they would have still needed time to reach Castle Black, time the Night King would have used to move downwards from the Wall. And so even if the young lord had left for his castle the moment the Wall fell, with the distance between Last Hearth and Winterfell being nearly twice that of it from Eastwatch, there was no chance in the seven hells that he and his bannermen would have been able to reach the castle and journey back before the Night King and his army fell on them.

Edd could already see it in his head what his group would come upon when they entered the castle - finding it filled with silence, empty of all life and signs of battle all over its grounds. Maybe even a few wights lying in wait if they were unlucky. He'd realized it the moment he had finished Jon's letter, how the young lord was as good as dead already. Yet despite everything, he'd still decided to lead a group to Last Hearth.

_I must have been sick in the head. That's the only explanation._

The sound of the castle gates opening distracted Edd from his thoughts, bringing his attention back to the present. When he saw a horse come galloping out of the gates and down the trail towards them with a rider on top, he cursed aloud loudly, as he pulled the reins aside allowing his right arm to reach and free the sword hanging at his hip from its sheath.

"Draw your blades!" Edd shouted at the men and as his surroundings were filled with the sound of ten swords being pulled out of their scabbards, he cursed the gods silently for once more fucking him over. With Edd's eyes tracking the rider, his left arm moved on its own, away from the reins and briefly touching the tightly wrapped bundle near his hip so as to reassure himself of its contents. If the rider turned out to be the only White Walker present in the castle, they still had a chance.

And then the rider reached the last turn of the trail above them, leaving him out of time. He gripped the reins once more as he kicked at his horse, charging forward with a battle cry on his lips and his men behind him.

"FOR THE WATCH!"

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-\\-\\-\\-\\-\\-\\-\\-

"As you can see, we're still in the middle of getting ready for travelling." Alric, who had turned out to be the castellan of the castle, vaguely pointed around the castle grounds which were filled with men, women and children seemingly moving at random. Or not, Edd realized, as his eyes took in the dozens of wagons that were currently near the castle gates where the men and women were piling themselves on.

"How long till everyone's accounted for?" Edd asked their guide.

"At most? I'd say... about another half an hour?" the man replied, shaking his head at a question one of the guards near the wagons asked him, before giving him a flat look. "Would have been faster if you people hadn't interrupted us."

Edd held his gaze. Yes, he might have mistaken the man for a White Walker before, but he would be damned before he felt embarrassed over it. He had made a mistake, but with the knowledge he had, his conclusion hadn't been wrong.

Honestly though, Edd felt more annoyed at the Night King. Just what the fuck had been doing that he still hadn't reached Last Hearth?!

"Alric!"

Hearing his name being called out, interrupted the man's staring, his face turning towards where the voice had come from even as Edd did the same. The speaker turned out to be a boy, an awfully young one at that. Edd wouldn't have wagered that the boy had even seen eleven namedays.

"Did you really tell the guards to stop the people from taking any of their belongings with them?" the boy asked as he came to a stand in front of him.

Edd raised his eyebrows at the child's words. While they had lacked any ferocity behind them, the words had still felt more like a demand than a true question. Just who-

"I did, my lord." Alric replied, answering Edd's as of yet unasked question, as he nodded at the young lord of Last Hearth. After giving Edd a sideways glance, he continued. "If what the new King said is true, then we cannot bring anything with us besides the absolute necessities for the journey to Winterfell. Anything more will just slow us down and give this... _Night King_ an opportunity to catch up."

Edd knew that had his men been present with him, instead of resting from their travels, heated words would have been exchanged for what the man had just implied, but Edd himself ignored them.

He didn't need Alric to believe in the Night King. Not yet. For now, all he needed was for him to do his job and it didn't look like he was slacking off there. When the Night King came marching with his army then so too would his belief and until then he was free to imply whatever the fuck he wanted.

The young lord, Ned Umber if he recalled correctly nodded, seemingly satisfied with his words before he moved towards the wagons. Edd watched the boy leave alongside Alric before he turned to the man beside him.

"Me and my men will be at the rearguard for the journey to Winterfell. How many men do you have left?"

Alric grimaced at the question, his face scrunching up as if Edd had just made him smell shit.

"Not many. The late Lord Umber took most of the remaining ones with him when he went to battle. And that was after his late father had gone to the South with a sizable amount of men. We barely have any men left of proper age, only greenboys and old men, with about a couple dozen of soldiers that had been left behind to guard the castle."

Edd gave a grimace of his own at that, before sighing. "We'll just have to faster than our pursuers then."

Not having anything else to say or ask and unwilling to make small talk with the man, Edd gave him a small nod before turning away. He had only taken a few steps when Alric spoke out again.

"I forgot to ask, but did you send the woman?"

Edd's feet came to a stop immediately, before he turned to face Alric. He frowned at the man, who did not appear to be fucking with him. "What woman?"

His question prompted the man to point towards the keep. "That one."

Edd saw her then, standing just beside the doorway of the keep. And with it he had to clench his jaw to keep it from gaping.

_Beautiful_, that was the first word that came to his mind when his eyes took in her features. It was as if the Maiden herself had come down to their world in mortal form.

_Targaryen_, was the second when his mind finally registered what her silver white hair that even braided fell to her shoulders and her pale as snow skin meant together.

He asked as such to Alric who merely shrugged. "I don't know. She can't speak our tongue and none of us here can speak anything else. She suddenly came to the castle yesterday, then left just as fast. She returned again today, this time accompanying Lord Ned and his group."

"Does he know her then?"

"No, he was as surprised as us." Alric replied.

Edd looked at the woman more properly this time, eyes taking in all of her as the woman gazed at the chaotic courtyard. She was draped in a dark blue cloak that covered her completely, similar in design if not color, to what the brothers wore. He could guess why Alric had come to the conclusion that they might have sent her.

But he was certain that she hadn't been been among the men and women sent to guard the Wall at Eastwatch. Or among Stannis' army that had come to the Wall. And it also didn't look like she was the Targaryen that Jon had told him about in the letter.

Edd looked at her for a few more moments before he shrugged and walked away. She could have been a long lost cousin of the Targaryen royal family for all he knew. Or maybe she had been part of the Targaryen woman's group who had stayed at Eastwatch and they had considered her lost in its breaching.

All that mattered currently to him was that she wasn't a White Walker. He could find out anything else later when the army of the dead wasn't breathing down his neck.

For now, he was going to take a nap.


End file.
